#burial rites

[redlobter]

Episode sixty four, Burial Rites. I trashed this episode in the caption of my First Hunt art, but I was wrong. It's pretty solid. I think it just got overshadowed by its slightly younger brother, Binary, which is for tomorrow.

[blondebrainpowered]

Jade cicadas, meant to be placed on the tongues of the dead to signify rebirth. China, Han dynasty, 202 BC–220 AD.

[nightmaresyrup]

Sleeper Build

Ahh man, I like drawing like thus. It's just so fun making stuff up and doodling random things until cool thing appears.

[iamthelemonlord]

Thoughts: wwx probably wasn't ever gonna get reincarnated cuz he his body was destroyed and he didn't get burial rites. I'm not 100% sure on this, but seeing that wq's ashes were scattered as a punishment and nmj's soul was cut into pieces and this was a reflection of his body, it makes me wonder if that's a similar case for wwx's soul. It's also seen in tgcf: hc offering his ashes to be destroyed, which would destroy his soul. Being that it's stated wwx's body was completely destroyed, no bones left, makes me wonder if this is the case.

Edit: Since this keeps getting reblogged, I feel like I should add that what I stated isn't accurate. It was a thought spurred by my interpretation of the text (which can be wrong). Other reblogs/ responses have made good points that I either didn't consider or left out – one thing I forgot to mention was a ghost's resentment (it's more likely that what caused wwx not to pass on was his perceived failings with the Jiangs and Wens). I'm not an expert with burial rites or burial customs in China except that at some point, cremation became more common. Don't use the above as fact, it was more of a thought experiment.

[wench-of-the-woods]

The Champion about to smack the shit out of the Undertaker.

Inspired by an endnote in Burial Rites by @somer-writes. I've been binging the heck out of his fics and couldn't resist...

[charonsintern]

Frankenstein and Burial Ceremonies

Just saw the new Fankenstein movie, which i really enjoyed. It is a good story. The show burial scences and use something that i at first thought it was fake. Nope it is a real thing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisk_metallic_burial_case

[thefairytaler]

Someone reality check me if I’m overreacting or overthinking this, but it doesn’t feel very cool to me that we’re making food using Ötzi’s body.

I don’t know if it’s because my brain immediately jumps to things like the way Egyptian mummies were historically treated by Europeans, where human remains were dug up, bought and sold, ground into pigments, used in medicine, unwrapped at parties for entertainment, and generally treated as objects rather than people, and my brain is just connecting those dots and going “that feels wrong,” or if I’m actually noticing a broader pattern in how ancient human remains are often treated with less respect than we would extend to more recent dead.

Like, obviously nobody alive today personally knew Ötzi. He’s been dead for thousands of years. I understand that. I also understand the scientific value of studying ancient remains and the incredible amount we’ve learned from him about prehistoric life, diet, migration, disease, technology, and so on. I am not arguing that archaeological study is bad or that remains should never be researched.

But there’s something about crossing over from studying a body to making food and alcohol with it, using it and/or turning it into a novelty experience that makes me pause a little.

Maybe I’m applying modern ideas about bodily consent in situations where they don’t really fit. Maybe I’m being inconsistent and there are good reasons why this is viewed differently than other cases. That’s genuinely possible. I’m absolutely not married to this opinion and I’m open to hearing from people who know more than I do.

At the same time, I think part of what’s bothering me is that if someone died recently and scientists announced they had reconstructed their microbiome and were now using it to make food products, a lot of people would immediately find that unsettling. The fact that thousands of years have passed seems to change people’s reactions dramatically, and I’m not entirely sure where the line is between “enough time has passed that this is fine” and “this is still a human being we’re talking about.”

When I look at ancient remains, I don’t really stop seeing a person just because they’re ancient. My instinctive reaction is still “that was somebody.” They had a life, relationships, fears, preferences, things they cared about, things they loved, people they loved, people who loved them. They were not an artifact when they were alive. They were made one after death.

So when I see things that move beyond research and into entertainment, commercialization, or novelty, something in my brain starts setting off like, silent hill style warning sirens.

If this doesn’t bother anyone else and there’s context I’m missing that makes this a perfectly respectful and normal thing, I’m completely open to being educated on that. But if other people have had similar thoughts, I’d be interested to hear them too, because I feel like I’m struggling to put words to exactly what is making me uncomfortable here. It feels like there’s a distinction somewhere between learning from the ancient dead and using them, and I’m not sure I’ve fully decided where I personally that distinction actually lies.

[generalb]

MAG 64 “Burial Rites” review:

Man, this was horrifying but not in a scary way if that makes sense. Mummifying an immortal gives me that same sensation of dread and disgust that I feel when looking at fictions like I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream.

What’s interesting about this episode aside from that is the smuggling business. I don’t remember the man’s name, but I full expected to see the return of that guy from the statements’ MAG 14, MAG 38, and I think a third one but I’m not sure. Ugh what was his name! He wasn’t involved anyhow. Sims would’ve mentioned something.

A decent episode. I’ll give it a 5 unrecorded tombs out of 10 criminal archaeologists, would teach again.

Statement ends.

Supplemental Review:

Go Girl Give Us Nothing! This may have been the worst supplemental I’ve ever heard. Basira is yelling at Sims about being suspected even though she was until just recently IMVESTIGATING HIM FOR MURDER and was using the tapes as an excuse/way to make him slip up. Fucking cops, I swear. Hell, we didn’t even get any new tapes! This episode in total was not a major banger. To tell you the truth I stopped liking the main character when she talked about how much she hates kids. I understand having distaste, but there’s no way to express that without sounding like an asshole. I guess she wasn’t caring about who listened in though, I guess. I feel bad for the kids she’s probably teaching, I bet her class SUCKS.

End supplemental.